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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23868451">Love is Just a Word Until Someone Gives It Meaning</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutisticShepard/pseuds/AutisticShepard'>AutisticShepard</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>RWBY</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Autistic Oscar Pine, Autistic Ruby Rose (RWBY), F/M, POV shifts from Ruby to Oscar about halfway through, Soulmates, Texting about desserts</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 23:35:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,036</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23868451</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutisticShepard/pseuds/AutisticShepard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Soulmate AU where you don't see color until you make eye contact with your soulmate.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Oscar Pine &amp; Ruby Rose, Oscar Pine/Ruby Rose</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>58</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Love is Just a Word Until Someone Gives It Meaning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Since this is an AU, obviously no Ozpin occupying Oscar<br/>Anyway, sorry in advance for any typos or the like since as we all know I'm at my most productive with some vodka in me so I can't always catch every error before I upload</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“...Blake Belladonna, you’re with Neptune Vasilias, and Ruby Rose, you’re with Oscar Pine. Your pieces are due in two weeks. Class dismissed.” Ruby looked towards her classmate. He was scratching his notes down on a notepad. Ruby waited a moment--which was hard enough--for most members of the class to filter out, unable to resist the promise of the coming weekend before approaching the slightly shorter male.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oscar! Hey!” She greeted him. Oscar scratched the back of his neck, not meeting her eyes. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Is he nervous?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Ruby wondered. “I was wondering if it’s okay to get your number. If it fits with your schedule, we can work on the project together at the library if you have some free time.” Ruby knew people thought she came on a ‘bit strong’ so she was really--honestly--trying to dial it back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, that’d be great!” Oscar took the phone Ruby offered and entered his number under ‘Oscar Pine’.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Later, Ruby texted him. She tried to wait a few hours but it was really, truly hard.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-</span>
  <em>
    <span>Hey, Oscar, it’s Ruby! (from class, haha) Just wondering if there’s a good time to meet up this weekend for our project. If not, no worries; I’m available most of next week as well! :)</span>
  </em>
  <span> She wondered if all the exclamation points were too much, but--as usual-- realized that </span>
  <em>
    <span>life is short</span>
  </em>
  <span> and </span>
  <em>
    <span>it’s only one project together</span>
  </em>
  <span> and hit the ‘send’ button anyway. Oscar replied almost immediately.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-</span>
  <em>
    <span>Ruby, hey! I’m able to meet up this weekend for the project, how about the library near campus?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Oscar groaned as he sent the text.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Could I be anymore of a dork?” He sighed aloud. “Really? An exclamation point? She’s going to think you’re a weirdo.” He messed with his fidget cube anxiously and waited for his classmate’s reply.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>-</span>
  <em>
    <span>That sounds great, how about around 5PM?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Oscar smiled at the text, clicking his fidget cube rapidly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>On Saturday, Ruby and Oscar were sitting closeby at one of the available desks in the library. They had about twenty books between them and their respective notebooks were both covered in multicolor writing. Oscar had about eight different colors on his own sheets and he’d noticed that Ruby used quite a few different colors as well (</span>
  <em>
    <span>“It’s hard to tell the lines apart otherwise.”</span>
  </em>
  <span> she’d said). This made Oscar wonder if Ruby had yet found her soulmate. He still had difficulty telling colors apart, even after a lifetime of seeing in black-and-white. Either way, he didn’t want to pry. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Instead, Oscar was content to sit with his classmate and pass the books back and forth between them. Occasionally, if there was a stricter librarian on duty, they would pass notes between them about what they were reading and he would stifle a grin at the different smiley faces that Ruby put in her notes. Usually, it was something similar to “</span>
  <em>
    <span>I didn’t catch that in the book when I read it the first time, cool!! :D</span>
  </em>
  <span>” or “</span>
  <em>
    <span>Here’s a weird analogy I found, let me know what you think! (:</span>
  </em>
  <span>”. Either way, it was something that made him smile.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>One day, at the end of their mutual study session, Oscar brought out his fidget cube to click--he usually tried to use something else to stim as the fidget cube could be loud to his ears--Ruby let out a small gasp before pulling out a fidget cube of her own.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You have one too?” She squeaked. For the first time in a long time, Oscar looked up to make eye contact and his gaze reached up to her’s. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Silver</span>
  </em>
  <span>. It was the same in black-and-white as it was in color. The red of her hoodie, however, was a shock.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oscar…your eyes...are they hazel?” Oscar self-consciously drew his hand up to his cheekbones, right below his eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t know.” He answered softly. He’d subconsciously averted eye contact, as usual, although instead of the lower right of his line of sight that Oscar favored, he’d instead drawn it to the gleaming silver pin on Ruby Rose’s hoodie.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Me neither.” Ruby told him quietly. “I mean, it’s my first time seeing color.” With difficulty, Oscar lifted his gaze to meet her own as he was momentarily paralyzed by the shocking silver. He’d already seen it in passing but somehow it was different now that Oscar was able to see in color. Ruby seemed to relax, the tension in her shoulder dissipating, as she met his eyes before her eyes darted to the lapels of his jacket.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I-I like the green of it...your jacket, I mean.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks, your red hoodie is really cool.” The smile that appeared on Ruby’s face was like the sun breaking through the clouds on an overcast day and Oscar realized: </span>
  <em>
    <span>This is what a soulmate feels like.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As they met outside of class more frequently, Oscar was surprised to learn how much they had in common and how much he enjoyed their conversation on the things they didn't. One particular topic Ruby was passionate about was sweets, something she could text about for--literally--hours on end and he was more than happy to oblige.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>RR</span>
  <em>
    <span>: So, what's your favorite ice cream flavor?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>OP: </span>
  <em>
    <span>orange sherbet :)</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>RR: </span>
  <em>
    <span>Wh</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>RR: </span>
  <em>
    <span>Sherbet=/=ice cream???</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>RR: </span>
  <em>
    <span>Please tell me you were joking!!!</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>OP: </span>
  <em>
    <span>they're both frozen?</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>RR: </span>
  <em>
    <span>Yeah, so is salmon and that doesn't make it ice cream</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oscar couldn't stop himself from laughing out loud; he could practically hear her exasperated tone. Maybe there was something to this soulmate thing after all. Trying to change the topic, he messaged Ruby back.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>OP: </span>
  <em>
    <span>just a wild guess here, buuuuuuut is your favorite flavor chocolate chip cookie dough? :)</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>RR: </span>
  <em>
    <span>Oscar</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>RR: </span>
  <em>
    <span>It's like you're inside my mind 0_0</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>OP: </span>
  <em>
    <span>no ive just heard you talk about ur love for cookies :D</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>RR: </span>
  <em>
    <span>:)</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Even a smiley face emoticon from his soulmate made a flowerlike warmth bloom in Oscar’s chest, the feeling blossoming and spreading out like petals and making his face warm. He was nervous to put a name to the exact feeling that Ruby made him experience but all he knew was that he was happy that the universe gave him such an amazing soulmate.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm actually planning to add more chapters to this with different pairings but until I actually write them first right now I'm just putting this down as one chapter.<br/>Also in one of my previous works I mentioned a lack of motivation to write but: a) I already had this written I just revised it a bit and b) I did get some very nice messages and comments so it helped me, I'm still not 100% dedicating/promising to upload more or regularly but I'm not entirely shutting the door yet. Thanks to everyone who has supported me.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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